In a world of shifting customer expectations, more competitors than ever, a steady stream of new technologies and the drive for revenue and profitability growth it is easy to lose your way.

Marketing is time and resource intensive and must deliver high performance results to the business.

Is marketing not meeting or exceeding expectation? Does is seem like you’re spending more on marketing than you’re getting back? It’s a common problem.

If the marketing mojo seems to be lacking, or gone completely, you can get it back. Really.

Consider the following ideas to reinvigorate your team, activities and results—restoring marketing strength and contribution to the business:

1. Take a peek at your strategy. Business and marketing leaders will often identify a strategy and stick with it no matter what. In marketing this is a “death trap” due to ever changing markets and requirements. Revisit your marketing strategy, bring in fresh market and customer feedback, assess your metrics to know what’s worked (or not) and change up your strategy to attack new market realities.

2. Use technology. In the past 10 years there have been breakthroughs in process, tools and applications to automate customer experiences/journeys, increase response times, analyze and predict prospect and customer behaviors and drive marketing from “idea to revenue.” Implement as much technology as you can to drive up interaction and opportunity while driving down cost.

3. Dig in to information. Marketers can tend toward creativity, emotion and relationship building…and can tend to run away from details and data. Don’t let this happen. Implement rigorous metrics, measure everything and learn from the information where to place your marketing time and energy.

4. Training. Make sure you offer training opportunities for your people to learn about the newest tools, processes, applications, targeting, messaging, value proposition and social media options. Continuous training brings in fresh, new ideas that restore energy, passion and the ability to market better.

5. Reswizzle the team. Given the speed of change in markets, customers, competitors, products, services, partnerships and technology…it’s impossible for an existing team to know everything it needs to be successful. Look ahead and see what’s trending and find new talent that can bring those skills and experience to your group. This can move you forward faster and with lower cost than trying to bring along “last year’s team” into the future.

6. Quit following the competition. Champion a unique and innovative approach to the market through updated value propositions, competitive positioning, targeting and messaging. Lead your prospects and customers into a new, exciting future…vs. doing what your competitors have already established in your prospect’s mind.

7. Get out of the weeds. Shoot for simplicity and clarity in your approach, activities, messages, offers and connection with your prospects and customers. Leave the details for the sales team when they’re overcoming objections. Don’t create unnecessary questions by marketing in detail that confuses your target, driving them to your competition.

8. Connect marketing to the business. Marketers can gravitate to “deliverables” as a measure of success. Big mistake. Get beyond deliverables to creating strategies, plans, campaigns, activities, engagement and opportunity the business seeks. To do otherwise can lead do disaster.

9. Ruthlessly eliminate mediocrity. Shoot and achieve excellence in everything you do. Set a high bar for excellence in your people, process, communication and customer experience. Put your competition on the defensive.

10. Drive customer experience (CX). Long gone are the days where a business, product or service could “sell itself.” Customers demand experiences from their vendors or suppliers. Marketing plays a significant role in defining the business’s customer experience. Marketing drives market definition and expectation for your customer experiences. And, marketing ultimately measures the achievement of the customer experience. Stop having a reactive “customer experience” based on problems; get ahead of a new, exciting customer experience and watch your marketing team and impact soar.

Oh, one more bonus idea. Use outsiders. Yep, it may sound self serving. Outsiders bring experience, skill, knowledge, tools, methods and technologies that have been proven over multiple businesses, in varied industries and across numerous product/service and customer scenarios. Outsiders accelerate your marketing impact, reinvigorate teams and strategies and set you on the path to more success than you may have thought possible.

What do you have to lose?

The Afterburner Group has been reinvigorating marketing teams, strategies and business contribution for companies in the technology, energy, services, manufacturing and non-profit industries for over 25 years.

If you think that you’ve lost your marketing mojo and could benefit from an assessment, fresh approach, new skills and experiences to drive the best customer journeys, fill out the contact form below and let’s get to work on getting your mojo back.